Only Childish Gambino Could Make Anxiety About Declining Bee Populations And Water Scarcity Sound Sexy

There probably isn’t an artist alive who could simultaneously make the summer seem like a total drag and eerily beautiful. Than again, Childish Gambino isn’t most artists. On Wednesday (July 11), Gambino released Summer Pack, which saw the Atlanta renaissance man deliver two songs — “Summertime Magic” and “Feels Like Summer” — about the hottest season. The latter of the pack is where Childish uses the metaphor of summer to illustrate a growing list of anxieties.

Here is a short tally of everything Gambino is worried about: over-reliance on algorithms, global warming, water scarcity, the decline of bird and bee populations. The entire second verse deals with these overwhelming feelings of angst and dread.

Every day gets hotter than the one before
Running out of water, it’s about to go down
Go down
Air that kill the bees that we depend upon
Birds were made for singing
Waking up to no sound
No sound

In fairness to Gambino, the bees are indeed dying. A 2017 study by the Center For Biological Diversity of 4,337 North American and Hawaiian native bees found that “nearly 1 in 4 (347 native bee species) is imperiled and at increasing risk of extinction, as a result of agricultural intensification, climate change, and urbanization.” As far as water goes, the UN reported that 5 billion people might suffer from water shortages by 250, via The Guardian.

Welp, “This Is America” after all, and at least the apocalypse might be soundtracked by Gambino’s sweet falsetto.

1 month agoby themusicchannelliveShabba Ranks, Legendary Jamaican Deejay, born Rexton Rawlston Fernando Gordon, 53 years ago today on 17 January 1966, in Sturge Town, St. Ann. The genre of reggaeton, now a billion-dollar business, was spawned by his 1990 song 'Dem Bow', produced by Bobby 'Digital' Dixon. The Dem Bow riddim became so popular in Puerto Rican freestyle sessions that early reggaeton was simply known as 'Dembow'.